Face Value

I’m thankful to Khatchadourian for his absorbing article on Wiens and the team of doctors who worked on his behalf. As the daughter of a man whose face was damaged by a catastrophic injury, I was touched by Wiens’s drive to appear normal for the benefit of his child. My father underwent many years of reconstructive surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital after a shotgun blast removed most of his lower face. The doctors used what was, at the time, an experimental technique to give my father’s appearance—and life—some normalcy. They spent sixteen years doing reconstructive surgery, and their work has been a great success. We, as a family, will be forever grateful to the team of doctors who were willing to take a chance on my father’s case and to see it through. Khatchadourian’s article sheds some light on the amazing and life-altering work that these surgeons do.

Cylin Busby

Los Angeles, Calif.

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